Carding head attachment for pile fabric knitting machines



March 24, 1970 A. w. SCHMIDT CARDING HEAD ATTACHMENT FOR FILE FABRICKNITTING MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Dec. 20, 1963 Fla!ill?

L Rlx m mnfiw WC 8 S vW w llf't' will March 24, 1970 Agw. SCHMIDT3,501,312

CARDING HEAD ATTACHMENT FOR FILE FABRIC KNITTING MACHINES Original FiledDec. 20, 1963 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 F16. 7 INVENTOR. FIG. 3 Aauow W. SCHMIDTATTORNEYS March 24, 1970 A. w. SCHMIDT CARDING HEAD ATTACHMENT FOR FILEFABRIC KNITTING MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Original Filed Dec. 20, 1963 Tm R m we M w D L O N R A wjimwkm ATTORNEYS March 24, 1970 A. w. SCHMIDT3,501,812

CARDING HEAD ATTACHMENT FOR FILE FABRIC KNITTING MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheei4 Original Filed Dec. 20, 1963 INVENTOR. ARNOLD I. SCHMIDT ATTORNEYSMarch 24, 1970 A. w. SCHMIDT CARDING HEAD ATTACHMENT FOR FILE FABRICKNITTING MACHINES Original Filed Dec. 20, 1963 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORAmmo W. scamm- ATTORNEYS March 24, 1970 A. w. SCHMIDT CARDING HEADATTACHMENT FOR TILE FABRIC KNITTING MACHINES Original Filed Dec. 20,1963 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 REVERSE OFF INVENTOR. W. Scmmm FIG. I6

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,501,812 CARDING HEAD ATTACHMENT FORPILE FABRIC KNITTING MACHINES Arnold W. Schmidt, Sarasota, Fla.,assignor to Norwood Mills, Inc., Janesville, Wis., a corporation ofDelaware Original application Dec. 20, 1963, Ser. No. 332,227, now

Patent No. 3,299,672, dated Jan. 24, 1967. Divided and this applicationDec. 9, 1966, Ser. No. 600,490

Int. Cl. D01g 13/00; D04b 9/12, 9/14 US. Cl. 19145.7 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A carding head for feeding pile fibers to a pile fabricknitting machine wherein a roving or sliver of pile fibers is fed to themain cylinder of the head by a roving drafting section driven by avariable speed electric motor. The main cylinder and dolfer are drivenat a constant speed from a separate drive so that pile fibers arepresented at a uniform speed by the dolfer to the knitting machine, andthe motor drive of the drafting section is controllable and variableduring running to permit gradual variation in the volumetric feed rateof pile fibers.

This application is a division of my co-pending application Ser. No.332,227, filed Dec. 20, 1963, now U.S. Patent No. 3,299,672.

This invention relates to a blended knit pile fabric and moreparticularly to a fur-like knit pile fabric and to the method andapparatus for producing such fabric.

Fur-like or pile fabrics generally include a base fabric or back,knitted or woven, and a pile made up of fibers which are interlaced orinterlocked with the base fabric so as to be securely held and extendedfrom a surface of the base fabric. Such pile fabrics are well known andusually the base fabric is made of cotton or any other suitable naturalor synthetic fiber and the pile is also made from natural or real fur orany one or more of well known synthetic fibers such as nylon, Dacron,the acrylic synthetic fibers such as Orlon, Acrilan, Dynel, rayon, orother well known natural or man-made fibers. Fibers which are commonlyused as pile in a fur-like or pile fabric are commercially obtainable inalmost any color desired, for example, white, black, gray, brown,yellow, blue, etc. It is an object of this invention to produce a knitpile fabric having its pile arranged to simulate any natural fur designor in any other ornamental design of colors, which design is formed inthe pile of the fabric during the making or manufacturing of the fabric.

Another object of the invention is to provide a knit pile fabric whereinthe pile is arranged in any design, pattern or blend desired by varyingthe physical characteristics of the fibers within each consecutive pilebundle or element during the process of knitting the pile fabric.

The invention also contemplates a method and machine for manufacturing apile fabric such, for example, as a knit pile fabric which incorporatesany desired design in the pile of the fabric during the manufacture ofthe same which is simple, efficient, economical and readily lends itselfto the production of any desired design, pattern or configuration of thepile.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevation showing a new pile fabric knitting machine of thepresent invention, portions being broken away to illustrate detail.

FIG. 2 is an elevational fragmentary view showing a cylinder or sleeveof knit pile fabric as it is produced by the machine of FIG. 1 beforecutting.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of a piece of knit pile fabricafter cutting the cylinder along an axial line and flattening it, butprior to clipping or shaving of the pile fibers to a desired uniformlength.

FIGS. 4-7 are diagrammatic fragmentary plan views each showing adifferent piece of the finished fabric of the invention exemplifyingfour different designs or patterns which have been knitted therein.

FIG. 8 is a side elevation partly in section showing a new carding orpile fiber feeding head of the present invention applied to aconventional circular knitting machine, only a fragment of theconventional knitting machine being shown.

FIG. 9 is a side elevation of the same head shown in FIG. 8 but viewedfrom the opposite side of the head.

FIG. 10 is a schematic showing of a knitting machine provided with thenew carding head for practicing the new method of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary plan view of one set of feed rollers of theupper drawing section of the carding head for feeding one of the rovingsto the main cylinder of the carding head.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary end elevation partly in section of the endrolls of one drawing section.

FIG. 13 is a schematic circuit diagram showing the rheostat control fora variable speed motor one of which is utilized for driving each set offeed rollers of the several drawing or drafting sections which feed theroving to the main cylinder of the carding head.

FIG. 14 is an elevation of a dual unit control mechanism of the presentinvention for automatically controlling the dual feed carding head ofFIG. 10.

FIG. 15 is a fragmentary enlarged elevation of one unit of the dual unitcontrol mechanism of FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 is a sectional view taken on the line 16-16 of FIG. 15 androtated degrees to maintain the same scale.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, there is shown a knittingmachine such as a circular latch needle machine manufactured by theWildman Manufacturing Company of Norristown, Pa. The circular latchneedle knitting machine is old and well known and therefore will not bedescribed in detail, see, for example, the US. patents to Schmidt2,680,360, Brandt 2,710,525 and Moore 1,848,370.

KNITTING MACHINE STRUCTURE Referring to FIGS. 1 and 8, the so-calledhead ring 10, which is an annular ring forming part of the frame of thecircular knitting machine, is supported above the floor by other partsof the frame 11. The head ring supports a ring gear 12 which isrotatable about a vertical axis in a manner well known in the art. Thedrive for the ring gear 12 is conventional and includes an electricmotor M which is connected to ring gear 12 via an electric clutch andbrake unit (not shown), belt drive D, bevel gear B and the gear shaft S.The power for driving the main cylinder, dotfer and fancy wheel of thecarding unit described hereinafter is taken from ring gear 12 by meansof a gear 13 (FIG. 8) which meshes with the teeth of ring gear 12. Gear13 is fixed to the lower end of shaft 14 which is journalled in thebearing housing 16 by means of ball bearing races 15. Bearing housing 16is fixed in the base of carding unit frame 17. Bevel gear 18 is fixed tothe upper end of shaft 14 and meshes with a bevel gear 19 fixed on ahorizontal drive shaft 20 journalled in frame 17.

A needle cylinder 21 is supported upon and secured by screws to ringgear 12 for rotation therewith. Cylinder 21 carries a circular row oflatch needles 22, only a few of which are shown, which are movedvertically by a cam 22' such as disclosed in more detail in the US.patents to Schmidt 2,680,360 or Moore 2,255,078. Since circular knittingmachines for knitting pile fabrics are well known,

no further description or showing of the knitting mechanism of themachine is necessary.

CARDING HEAD The pile fabric knitting machine is provided with one ormore carding heads, only one of which is disclosed herein inasmuch asthe description of one carding head will apply also to the others. Asshown in FIGS. 1, 8 and 9, each carding head is carried on a frame 17secured by screws 23 to the frame ring of the knitting machine. The maincylinder or transfer roll 24 of the carding unit is fixed upon a shaft25 which is journalled at each end in the upright side walls 26 of frame17. Cylinder 24 is covered with a conventional card clothing generallydesignated 27 which comprises the usual cotton backing and felt body andwire teeth 28. A conventional doffer roll 29 is fixed upon a shaft 30which is also journalled at each end in radially adjustable arms 31which are supported upon the side walls 26 of frame 17. Arms 31 areangularly adjusted by a stop screw 32" and held in adjusted position byset screws 32 which pass through arcuate slots 33 in each arm 31 andscrew into tapped openings in the side walls 26. Radial or lengthwiseadjustment is provided by set screws 32' and slots 33'. The doffer rollalso is covered with a conventional card clothing such as the cardclothing which covers main cylinder 24. The teeth 28 of the maincylinder or transfer roll 24 prefeably just touch the teeth 34 of thedoffer roll 29.

The drive for the main cylinder or transfer roll 24 and doffer roll 29is as follows: gear 35 (FIG. 9) is fixed on one end of shaft 20 and isthus driven off the main ring gear 12 through gear 13, shaft 14, bevelgears 18 and 19 and shaft 20. Gear 35 meshes with a gear 36 which isfixed on a shaft 37 journalled in the adjacent side wall 26 of frame 17.Gear 36 meshes with a gear 38 fixed on a shaft 39 also journalled in theadjacent side wall 26 of the frame 17. Gear 38 meshes with a gear 40which is fixed on shaft 25 which supports the main cylinder or transferroll 24. The doffer 29 is driven by means of a gear 41 fixed on shaft 30which meshes with a gear 42 fixed on shaft 43 journalled in the adjacentside wall 26 of frame 17 Gear 42 in turn is driven by gear 44 fixed onshaft 20.

The carding head of the invention illustrated herein also includes afancy wheel 46 (FIGS. 8 and 9) fixed on a shaft 48 journalled at itsends in radially adjustable arms 50 attached to arms 52 by set screws 54which pass through slots 56 in arms 52. Each arm 52 is integral with thearm 31 on the same side of the head and hence moves angularly therewithduring such adjustment. Fancy wheel 46 is driven by a V-belt 58 trainedaround a pulley 60 fixed to shaft 30 and a pulley 62 fixed to shaft 48.Fancy wheel 46 is somewhat similar in construction to the main cylinder24 and doffer 29 except that the card clothing consists of longer andmore widely spaced wires 64 (FIG. 9) which preferably intermesh aboutA;" with the wires 28 of main cylinder 24. The fancy wheel 46 issubstantially completely enclosed by side plates 66 and a peripheralcover 68 which is hinged at 70 to facilitate cleaning.

From the above description and drawings it is evident that the maintransfer cylinder 24, dolfer roll 29 and fancy wheel 46 are all drivenofi the ring gear 12 but at different speeds. The aforementioned drivetrain elements are designed to provide a speed ratio which by way of apreferred example is as follows:

R.p.m. Ring gear 12 29 Main cylinder or transfer roll 24 110 Dolfer 29900 Fancy wheel 46 350 This manner of driving rolls 24 and 29 and fancywheel 46 is preferable but is shown by way of description rather than byway of limitation because any other driving arrangement can be providedas long as the drive for the dofier roll, main cylinder and fancy wheelis independent of the drive for the drawing or drafting section of thecarding unit, which will now be described.

DRAWING OR DRAFTING SECTIONS Although the knitting machine of theinvention is illustrated herein as having but a single carding unit, itis to be understood that each knitting machine can be provided with aplurality of carding units arranged in angularly spaced relation aroundframe ring 10. However, it is to be understood that each carding unit isprovided with a plurality, that is, two or more drafting or drawingsections. Any suitable drawing or drafting section can be provided forthe carding unit but a preferred form is disclosed hereinafter. As shownin simplified form in FIG. 10, two drawing or drafting sections 72 and74 of the carding unit feed fibers to the main cylinder 24. By way ofdescription, a lower drafting section 72 and an upper drafting section74 are shown, each of which deliver fibers to the main cylinder 24. Eachdrawing or drafting section drives these fibers from a separate roving76 and 78 respectively and acts upon the roving to progressivelyattenuate, flatten, and widen the same by the drawing action and topreferably convert the roving into a thin, relatively wide web ofparallelized fibers uniformly distributed across the width of said web.

Each drafting section is driven independently of the main cylinder 24,preferably by a conventional direct current variable speed motor 80(FIG. 8) and 82 (FIG. 9) for sections 72 and 74, respectively. However,other suitable types of motors or speed regulatable driving means mayalso be used. Since the driving arrangement for each drafting section isidentical only the drive for the lower drafting section 72 will bedescribed. Referring to FIG. 8, motor 80 drives the lower draftingsection 72 through a reduction gearing 84 which, by way of example, hasa reduction ratio of about 15 to 1. As shown schematically in FIG. 13,motor 80 is connected into a conventional control unit 86 which includesa rheostat 88 in series with the motor leads 90, 92. Each motor isprovided with an identical control unit designated 86 for the right handmotor 80 and 94 for the left hand motor 82 as viewed on the frame 10 inFIG. 1. Rheostat 88 of unit 86 may be manually rotated to vary the speedof motor 80 and rheostat 96 likewise operated to control the speed ofmotor 82. Each motor 80, 82 and associated reduction gearing and speedcontrol unit are available commercially as a unit and may, for example,comprise the A; Horsepower Motor Speed Control unit sold under thetrademark Ratiotrol by Boston Gear Works of Quincy, Mass.

As shown in FIG. 10, each drafting section 72, 74 comprises three pairsof counter-rotating meshing rollers 100, 102, 104, 106, 108 and 110,respectively, fixed to shafts 100', 102', 104', 106', 108' and 110'.Referring again to FIG. 8 shafts 100' and 102' are supported at theirends in a pair of arms 112 pivoted at 114 on frame 17 and held inadjusted position by a set screw 116 which passes through a slot in arm112 and threads into frame 17. Shafts 104, 106' and shafts 108 and 110'are similarly supported in pairs of arms 118 and 120 respectively.Shafts 100' and 104' are journalled in adjustable bearing blocks 122which are biased by springs 124 toward shafts 102 and 106' respectively,thereby providing a floating mount of the first and second upper rollersto accommodate variations in rowing density. However, as shown in FIG.12, shaft 108' is journalled in fixed position relative to shaft 110'.

As best shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, feed rollers 100, 102 and 104, 106 ofthe first and second pairs are formed with helical intermeshing teeth126 and 128. However, the second pair of rollers are arranged so thattheir helical teeth are reversed from those of the first set of rollers.The helical intermeshing teeth cause the roving 76 drawn therebetween tobe widened as well as flattened due to the helical shape of the teethpulling the fibers laterally apart. The helical intermeshing teeth alsotend to shift the entire web laterally as it emerges from rollers 100,102, but this effect is corrected by the reversed relationship of thehelix angles of the first and second pairs of rollers since the entireweb is shifted laterally in the opposite direction as it emerges fromthe second pairs of rollers. The teeth 130 of the third set of rollers108, 110 are straight rather than helical, and this set feeds theattenuated, flattened and widened roving 0110 the card clothing 27 ofcylinder 24. Preferably rollers 108, 110 are positioned so that they arespaced about of an inch from the ends of wires 28 of main cylinder 24.

As shown in FIG. 8, the feed rollers of drafting section 72 are drivenby a gear train including the drive gear 132 of the reduction gear unit84 which meshes with a gear 133 fixed on one end of shaft 108. The otherend of shaft 108' (FIG. 9) carries a gear 134 which drives via an idlergear 135 a gear 136 fixed on shaft 106'. A gear 137 fixed on the otherend of shaft 106 (FIG. 8) drives an idler 138 which in turn drives agear 139 fixed on shaft 102. Thus one roller of each pair is driven bythe gear train elements while the other roller of each pair is an idlerdriven by the intermeshing engagement with the driven roller. The secondpair of rollers 104, 106 preferably rotate at about 2% times the speedof the first pair of rollers 100 and 102, and the third set of rollers108, 110 rotate at about 2% times the speed of the second pair ofrollers to thereby cause the attenuating action on the roving as it isfed through the drafting section.

Each drafting section 72, 74 also has an apron 140 and- 141 respectivelyadapted to receive the rovings 76 and 78 from their bins or other sourceof supply thereof and to carry the roving to the first set of feedrollers 100 and 102. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 11, aprons 140 and 141 eachsupport a cross bar 142 and 144 each of which slidably supports a pairof adjustable guide posts 146, 148 respectively. The guide posts areheld in adjusted position by set screws threaded in their upper endswhich engage the cross bar. The posts are set so that they are spacedlaterally apart slight less than the average width of the roving. Asviewed in FIG. 1, guide posts 146 of the upper drafting section 74 areoffset towards the left side of apron 141, while posts 148 of the lowerdrafting section are offset towards the right side of apron 140. Thisstaggered relationship of the roving guides causes roving 78 to be fedinto upper drafting section 74 close to one side of the feed rollers. Asshown in FIG. 11, this in turn causes roving 78 to emerge from the thirdset of rollers 108, 110 with its outer edge 150 adjacent side edge 152of main cylinder 24. Similarly, roving 76 is fed by the lower draftingsection 72 onto main cylinder 24 with its outer edge 154 adjacent theopposite side edge 155 of main cylinder 24. As indicated by the arrowsin FIG. 11, the inner edges of rovings 76 and 78 overlap one another.

This staggered relationship of the guides of one drafting sectionrelative to the guides of the next drafting sec tion has been found tobe important in preventing a tendency of the rovings to stack orstratify on main cylinder 24 and in promoting the blending of the pilefibers from one roving with the other in the end product. It it to beunderstood that the staggered relationship of the rovings as they arefed onto the main cylinder is also desirable in the event that three ormore drafting sections are employed with a single carding wheel inaccordance with the present invention.

Each drafting section 72, 74 also has a cylindrical brush 156 (FIGS. 8,9 and supported at its ends in the upper ends of arms 120 in a frictionmount so that the brush normally remains stationary but may be rotatedmanually as required to present a fresh surface to card clothing 27 andto even up wear on the brush. The bristles of brush 156 just touch theends of the wires 28 of main cylinder 24 and assist in spreading andsmoothing the fibers just after they have been picked up by the maincylinder from each drafting section.

6 AUTOMATIC CONTROL MECHANISM Although the knitting machine of thepresent invention is readily susceptible to manual control by means ofthe control units 86 and 94 shown in FIG. 1, it is preferred to providean automatic control mechanism to insure uniformity of product on aproduction basis as well as for economy of manufacture. One example ofan automatic control mechanism is illustrated in FIGS. 14-16 wherein anelectro-mechanical type control unit 160 is shown for controlling thepreviously described dual feed carding head of the invention. Controlunit 160 comprises an identical pair of stepping rheostat controlmechanisms 162 and 164 enclosed in a common housing, unit 162 beingelectrically connected to motor 80 and unit 164 being electricallyconnected to motor 82.

Control mechanism 162 is shown in detail in FIGS. 15 and 16, and sincethis mechanism is identical to control mechanism 164 a description of itwill suffice for both. Control mechanism 162 includes a conventionalrheostat motor speed control unit 166 identical to units 86 and 94described previously except that the finger knob 171 (FIG. 1) on the endof the rheostat armature shaft 172 is replaced by a pair of ratchetwheels 168 and fixed to shaft 172. Wheel 168 is driven in acounterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 15 by a pawl 174 fixed on apost 176 which in turn is pivotally carried by an arm 178 pivoted at oneend of shaft 172 and disposed between ratchet wheels 168 and 170. Theouter end of arm 178 carries a plate 180 which depends therefrom andsupports a post 182 connected by a link 184 to the armature 186 of aconventional solenoid 188. A tension spring 190 is connected at one endto a pivot pin 192 which interconnects link 184 and armature 186. Spring190 is connected at its other end to an arm 194 affixed to a bracket1'96 mounted on unit 166. The limit of pivotal movement of arm 178 in acounterclockwise direction is determined by a screw 198 threaded intobracket 196. Another screw 200 is threaded into a bracket 202 also fixedto unit 166 and provides an adjustable stop for limiting pivotalmovement of arm 178 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 15.

The outer ratchet wheel 168 is normally held against reverse rotation bya detent comprising a spring arm 204 secured at one end to bracket 196and adapted to engage the teeth 206 of ratchet 168 at its free end.Similarly, reverse rotation of ratchet 170 is normally prevented by aspring arm 208 secured at one end to bracket 202 and adapted at its freeend to engage the teeth 210 of ratchet 170. Arm 178 has a pair of wings212 and 214 which carry screws 216 and 218 respectively. Screw 216 isadjusted to engage detent 204 as arm 178 approaches the counterclockwiselimit of its travel, while screw 218 is adapted to engage detent 208when arm 178 approaches the clockwise limit of its travel.

Pawl 174 is biased into engagement with teeth 206 of ratchet 168 by atension spring 220. Spring 220 isconnected at one end to a post 222which is fixed to the outed end of an adjusting screw 224 threaded intothe outer end of arm 178. The other end of spring 220 is connected tothe bent-up end of an arm 226 which extends through post 176 and isfixed thereto. Post 176 carries another pawl 228 which is disposedadjacentteeth 210 of the lower ratchet 170, pawl 228 being held clear ofteeth 210 by spring 220 when pawl 174 is working against the upperratchet 168.

A pair of reversing dogs 230 and 232 are secured to the outer surface ofratchet 168 by screws 234 which are threadably received in one of tenthreaded holes 236 provided at equally spaced angular intervals aroundratchet 168.

The solenoid 188 of unit 162 and the corresponding solenoid of unit 164may be energized by any suitable timing device. However for ease ofsynchronization it is preferred to mount one or more microswitches 237(FIG.

8) adjacent ring gear 12 or other rotating part of the knitting machine,and to mount a switch-actuating arm 238 on the rotating part in aposition to strike the microswitch once during revolution of therotating part. The microswitch is connected as an on-off switch in aconventional solenoid energizing circuit (not shown). By providing twoor more actuating arms 238 equally spaced around the rotating part, thenumber of solenoid-actuating impulses per revolution of the rotatingpart can be increased as desired to thereby increase the speed ofrotation of the ratchet wheels 168, 170.

In operation, solenoid 188 is energized to retract armature 186 which,via link 184, pulls arm 178 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG.15. As arm 178 begins to move clockwise, screw 216 disengages detent204, allowing it to seat between teeth 206 of ratchet 168 to preventreverse rotation thereof as pawl 174 is dragged clockwise back over atooth and then engages behind the next tooth. Just before arm 178strikes screw 200 in its clockwise stroke, screw 218 strikes detent 208to disengage its free end from a tooth 210 of lower ratchet 17 0.

Upon de-energization of solenoid 188, spring 190 pulls armature 186outwardly and, via link 184, pulls arm 178 in a counterclockwisedirection, thereby rotating ratchets 168 and 170 one notch in acounterclockwise direction until arm 178 strikes limit screw 198. Screw218 is adjusted to disengage detent 208 during the counterclockwisestroke of arm 178 just after the peak of a tooth 210 has passed underthe free end of detent arm 208. The free end of detent 208 then ridesdown the back of this tooth until ratchet 170 has been rotated onenotch, whereupon detent 208 strikes the leading edge of the next toothat the same time that arm 178 strikes stop 198. Detent 208 thus servesat this time as a positive stop to prevent overshooting of the ratchetsas they are rotated notch by notch in a clockwise direction.

The above sequence is repeated until dog 230 rotates into engagementwith arm 226 and pivots this arm to the other side of a center linedrawn through the axis of post 176 and post 222, whereupon spring 220exerts a clockwise moment on arm 226 to rotate post 176 until the pawl228 is pivoted into engagement with the lower ratchet 17 and pawl 174 issimultaneously retracted. A clockwise stroke of arm 178 now causesratchets 168, 170 to rotate clockwise one notch, and thecounterclockwise stroke of arm 178 is the return stroke for pawl 228.Ratchets 168 and 170 are thus rotated clockwise one notch at a time bysuccessive clockwise strokes of arm 178 until the other reversing dog232 strikes arm 226 and pivots its past its overcenter position,whereupon spring 220 exerts a counterclockwise moment to return pawl 174to the engaged position and to hold pawl 228 disengaged.

The solenoid of control mechanism 164 for motor 82 is also connected inthe microswitch circuit of control mechanism 162 so that controlmechanisms 162 and 164 operate in unison. One rheostat of unit 160 iswired so that clockwise rotation thereof increases the speed of theassociated motor, while the rheostat of the other unit is wired so thatclockwise rotation thereof decreases the speed of the motor connected tothe latter unit. Normally a 180 out of phase relationship is preferredso that the speed of one motor reaches its maximum when the other motorreaches its minimum, and vice versa, the sum of the individual speedsalways remaining constant. Since the rate at which rovings 76 and 78 arefed to the main cylinder 24 varies directly with the speed of motors 80and 82 respectively, the rate of feed of roving 76 is at its maximumwhen the rate of feed of roving 78 is at its minimum, and vice versa.Hence the sum of the rates of feed will also remain constant, therebycausing the total quantity of fibers delivered by the drafting sectionsto the main cylinder 24, doifer 29 and needles 22 per unit of time toremain substantially uniform. In this manner the number of pile fibersin each pile element or bundle knitted into the base yarn remainssubstantially constant, although the quantity of fibers derivedrespectively from roving 76 and roving 78 varies continuously as afunction of the rate of roving feed, the speed of needle cylinder 21being kept constant.

Method and Mode of Operating Machine to Produce Blended, Patterned orFur-like Knitted Pile Fabric With the above-described pile fabricknitting machine of the present invention, it is now possible to producea variety of novel knit pile fabrics as exemplified by the fourdifferent fabrics illustrated schematically in FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7. Thefabric 250 shown in FIG. 4 is a knit pile fabric made to resemble anatural mink pelt but otherwise is somewhat similar in structure to thatillustrated in the US. patent to Moore 1,791,741 when greatly enlargedand dissected. However, instead of the individual fibers of the pileelements all having the same physical characteristics, each pile elementis made up of a substantially constant number N of fibers including Xnumber of fibers of one color and Y number of fibers of another colorcorresponding, for example, to the two basic colors found in the fur ofthe animal which is being simulated.

By way of example, fabric 250 is made up of a row 252 containing apredominance of brown fibers in each pile element adjacent to a row 254containing a predominance of gray fibers in each pile element. Rows 252and 254 extend coursewise of the fabric (circumferentially of knittingcylinder 21 as the fabric is being knit) and alternate with respect toone another in the direction of the wales of the fabric. It is to benoted that the brown rows or stripes 252 merge very gradually into theadjacent gray stripes 254, and vice versa, taken in the direction of theWales of the fabric in the same manner that the brown and gray stripesin a mink pelt gradually blend into one another. Thus in appearancefabric 250 is a very close approximation of the natural mink fur.

To manufacture the fur-like fabric 250 of the present invention, thepreviously described dual feed carding head having the upper and lowerdrafting sections 74 and 72 is employed. A roving 76 of gray fibers isfed through guide posts 148 of the lower drafting section 72 and betweenthe three pairs of feed rollers, following the aforementioned staggeredor offset set-up procedure. A roving 78 of brown fibers is similarly fedinto the upper drafting section 74. The base strand or yarn 260 (FIG. 1)is then fed in the usual manner through the conventional guides and tube262 and threaded into the circular row of latch needles 22 as is wellknown in the art. Once the roving and yarn set-up is completed, thecontrol mechanism is adjusted to produce the desired strips width, e.g.,the dimension taken in the direction of the wales of the fabric betweenthe center line of the brown stripe 252 to the center line of theadjacent gray stripe 254. This is determined by the angular spacing ofreversing dogs 230 and 232, with the speed of rotation of the knittingcylinder 21 taken as the constant reference point. For example, assumethat the machine is set up to knit 29 courses of base fabric per minuteand that the stripe width is to be 87 courses or about three inches. Forthis size of stripe the reversing dogs 230 and 232 are spaced angularlyapart on ratchet 168 so that it requires three minutes from the time onedog leaves arm 226 until the other dog strikes arm 226 to reverse therotation of the rheostat.

After the above setup is completed, motor M is connected to driveknitting cylinder 21 at a constant rotational speed, thereby causingmain cylinder 24, doifer 29 and fancy wheel 46 to rotate at theaforementioned constant speed ratio. However, the rate of feed ofrovings 76 and 78 is controlled independently of the other elements ofthe carding head by control unit 160. Assume that rheostat unit 162controls the rate of feed of gray roving 76 and that it is at themaximum speed setting, and that rheostat unit 164 controlling the rateof speed of brown roving 78 is at the minimum speed setting. The grayroving 76 will thus be fed at full speed through the lower draftingsection 72 onto the card clothing 27 of main cylinder 24 which carriesit clockwise (FIG. 10) first past brush 156 and then up past the upperdrafting section 74 where brown roving 78 is being fed at slow speedonto the periphery of cylinder 24. Due to the staggered relation ofrovings 76 and 78, the brown roving will be laid over the gray roving 76with a slight overlap as indicated in FIG. 11, thereby coveringsubstantially all of the transverse width of cylinder 24 with gray andbrown fibers. The gray and brown fibers are then carried under brush 156of drafting section 78 and onward to fancy wheel 46.

It is to be noted at this point that the fancy wheel Wires 64 intermeshabout one-eighth inch with the wires 28 of the carding wheel (FIG. 9).Wheel 46 does not function as a transfer roll but rather operates toraise the fibers being carried by the card clothing 27 of main cylinder24 from the bottom of the clothing up to the outer surface of theclothing for presentation to doffer 29, thereby promoting a greatertransfer of fibers from the main cylinder 24 to the doffer 29. The piledensity of the fabrics hereunder consideration normally ranges fromabout 1 pound to about 5 pounds per square yard. When making the lighterdensity fabrics, fancy wheel 46 may be omitted but its use isrecommended when making the greater density fabrics and high rates ofroving feed are encountered. Wheel 46 also is beneficial in causing somedegree of intermixing of'the gray and brown fibers as they are beingcarried on the main cylinder 22.

The fibers then reach the tangential contact point of cylinder 24 withdofier 29, which is rotating counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. at about5 times the speed of cylinder 24. The Wires 34 of doffer 29 preferablyjust touch wires 28 of main cylinder 24 and pick up the fibers whichhave been raised to the surface of the clothing 27, plus whatever fibersare entangled with the surface fibers. The balance of the fiberscontinue on around with cylinder 24 and become mixed with the fibersbeing added at drafting sections 72 and 74. The transfer of fibers todoifer 29 causes same further mixing of the brown and gray fibers. Thefibers are then carried counterclockwise on doffer 29 past the path oftravel Of needles 22 which are elevated as they approach doffer 29 sothat the upper hook end of the needle penetrates the card clothing ofthe doffer. Needles 22 enter at one edge of the doffer clothing and rakeacross the clothing with their latches 264 open, as shown in FIGS. 8 and10. During this traverse, each needle picks up a bundle of pile fiberswhich represents an average sampling of the relative amounts of gray andbrown fibers then present on the dof'fer.

Thus, in the example given where initially the maximum amount of grayfibers and the minimum amount of brown fibers are being fed to the maincylinder, ap proximately these same proportions of gray and brown fiberswill be present in the bundle of fibers on the needle, allowing for aslight lag due to the transfer time from the drafting section to theneedle. There is also a further intermingling of gray and brown fibersas they are accumulated in a bundle on each needle during its traverseof the doffer. This intermixing within each bundle is further promotedby the action of the needle as it knits the pile fibers into the basefabric to form the cylindrical sleeve 266 (FIG. 2) in the machine.

The resulting color of each bundle visible to the naked eye has beenfound to generally follow the principles of color blending of paints;that is, if a bundle contains 50 percent of gray fibers and 50 percentof brown fibers it will appear to be an intermediate color such as thatresulting from mixing an equal quantity of gray and brown pigment. Hencethe physical intermixture of the fibers which takes place on the cardinghead and in knitting the pile into the base fabric is herein termed ablending action, although under microscopic enlargement the individualor discrete physical characteristics which distinguish the fibers of oneroving from the other is always identifiable.

Continuing with the above example, the rate of feed of the gray roving76 is gradually diminished under the control of motor 80 as rheostatunit 162 rotates step by step clockwise, while simultaneously the speedof motor 82 and consequently the rate of feed of brown roving 78 isgradually increased under the control of unit 164. Hench, the first fewcourses knitted in the sleeve 262 will be predominantly gray. As theamount of brown fibers increase and the amount of gray fibers diminish,the next courses knit by the machine will become more brown in hue, thistransition continuing until the maximum brown and minimum gray is beingfed by the carding head to the needles, whereupon several courses ofpredominantly brown knit pile fabric are produced. When the controlunits 162, 164 simultaneously reverse, the percent of brown fibers willagain start to diminish and the gray fibers begin to increase from theirminimum, thereby producing a gradual return to courses of intermediategray-brown hues. When the gray fibers predominate once more, the centerof the next gray stripe 254 will have been produced.

The above sequence is automatically repeated until the entire sleeve 266is knit, and then the machine is shut down automatically or manually andthe sleeve removed from the machine. Sleeve 266 is then out along anaxial line 268 (FIG. 2) and laid open for subsequent treatment,including shaving along a line 270 as illustrated in FIG. 3, followed bysubsequent backing and polishing steps as conventionally practiced inthe manufacture of ordinary pile fabrics.

Although the above example dealt with only one variable, e.g., the colorof the pile fibers knitted into the base fabric it is to be understoodthat pile fibers differing with respect to one or more other physicalcharacteristics, such as the denier of the fibers, average length of thefibers or the material from which the fiber is made, may be intermixedin accordance with the present invention. Thus fibers of two colors andtwo deniers, for example, may be blended in varying amounts to produce astriped pattern which also alternates as to the coarseness of the pile.

Although a dual feed carding head is illustrated herein, it is alsopossible to arrange three or more drafting sections around the cardingcylinder 24, a larger cylinder being required as the number of draftingsections is increased. This enables a greater number of separate anddifferent rovings to be employed in making a blended knit pile fabric.

With the above variations in mind, it will be understood that the numberof possible new products which can be manufactured employing the methodand/or machine of the present invention is almost limitless. Anotherfeature is that a skilled operator, by manipulating the manual rheostatcontrols 86 and 94 as illustrated in FIG. 1, can paint various patternsand designs by varying the blend of the fibers knitted into the fabricas desired. Once a pleasing pattern is obtained, the control sequencerequired can be computed from the finished fabric and the sequencetranslated to computer tape for operating an automated production line.

Moreover, the blending carding head of the present invention isadvantageous even when two different rovings are fed to the carding headat equal and constant rates of feed. The end product resulting from thismethod and mode of operating the machine is illustrated by the knittedpile fabric 272 shown schematically in FIG. 7. Fabric 272 has animproved blend of the two fibers over that hitherto obtainable byfeeding two rovings of differently colored fiber into a single draftingsection. The two different fibers are more thoroughly intermixed andless readily recognizable to the naked eye which, in the case of atwo-color blend, means a more solid shade of an intermediate hue.

A further example of the product possibilities obtainable with a cardinghead having a plurality of individually controllable drafting sectionsis exemplified by the checkerboard patterns produced in the fabrics 274and 276 illustrated respectively in FIGS. and 6. In order to producepatterns of this nature, a suitable phase control of the two motors isprovided by microswitches arranged in the manner of the timing switch orswitches previously described for ratchet rheostat unit 160 or by otherconventional timer controls. With such a control the motors 80 and 82are alternately turned on and off to first cause a feed solely of oneroving followed by a feed solely of the other roving in an alternatingsequence within each course of the sleeve 266 as it is knit. Thus in thefirst row 278 of fabric 274 (FIG. 5) several courses of fibers 280 fromone roving alternate coursewise with several courses of fibers 282 fromthe other roving. After the number of courses making up the first row278 have been knit, a suitable phase shift control or other devicecauses the roving feed to continue for a double interval and thereafterthe original sequence resumes, thereby knitting the second row 284 offabric 274 wherein the fibers 282 are adjacent fibers 280 of the row 278and fibers 280 of the row 284 are adjacent fibers 282 of row 27 8.

As used herein, the term physical characteristics when referring to theproperties of the individual fibers, either natural or synthetic or amixture of the same, making up each pile element or bundle in the fabricis used generically to encompass both visually identifiable propertiessuch as color, length, denier and size as well as other physicalproperties identifiable only by test or analysis, such as strength. Itis also to be understood that the individual rovings 76, 78 may be madeup of mixtures of fibers, either natural or synthetic, having differentcharacteristics and such mixed rovings fed separately onto the cardingmeans in the practice of the present invention.

Another important variable which is controllable in a predeterminedmanner in the practice of the present invention is the density of thepile fibers within the fabric. Although previous examples have dealtwith varying the blend of pile fibers while making a knit pile fabrichaving a pile of substantially uniform density throughout the fabric, itis to be understood that the density of the pile can be readily variedwalewise and/or coursewise of the fabric to produce pattern effects orto simulate the manner in which the density of animal hair varies in anatural fur pelt. For example, the hair on the back of the furbearinganimal being simulated may be denser than that on the belly. Thereforeto produce an accurate reproduction of such fur in a knit pile fabric inaccordance with the present invention, the combined rate of feed of theseparate rovings 76 and 87 is varied as the base fabric is being knit asa function of the portions of the sleeve 266 corresponding to the backand belly in such a manner as to simulate this natural condition. Thisin turn causes the total number of pile fibers per bundle to vary as thefabric is being knit. In making fabric 250 of FIG. 4, this densityvariable may be superimposed on the color variable which is controlledto produce the alternating brown and gray striped effect. However, ifdesired the density or total number of pile fibers per bundle may be thesole variable knit into the fabric.

One way of achieving variable density of the fabric pile is by manualoperation of rheostat control units 86 and 94 in such a manner that thecombined rate of feed of rovings 76 and 78 is varied to increase ordecrease the density of the pile fibers as required to produce thedesired density variation in the pile of the fabric as it is being knit.For example, units 86 and 94 may both be rotated at the same time toincrease the speed of motors 80 and 82 at the same rate. This willmaintain a constant ratio of fibers derived from the respective rovings,such as 50 percent from roving 76 and 50 percent from roving 78, whileincreasing the total number of fibers delivered to each needle and hencethe total number of fibers per bundle element.

If it is desired to combine a striping effect with a progressive steppedvariation in pile density, then the two controls 86 and 94 may beoperated in the 180 out-ofphase relationship (i.e., as the speed of onemotor increases the speed of the other correspondingly decreases)previously described through a progression of ranges. Thus, in the firstrange control 86 may be rotated to vary the speed of motor from say 0percent to 10 percent of its maximum speed while control 94 is operatedto decrease the speed of motor 82 from 10 percent down to 0 percent ofits maximum speed, and vice versa. The resulting pile density will thenbe equal to the number of fibers fed by one drafting section 72 or 74operating at 10 percent of maximum speed. Then the range may be shiftedupwardly so that controls 86 and 94 are similarly operated to run motors80 and 82 between 10 percent and 20 percent of their maximum speed. Thiswill cause the same striping effect due to the 180 out-of-phasevariation between the two controls 86 and 94, but the pile density willbe increased and equal to that produced by one drafting sectionoperating at 30 percent of its maximum speed. This progression can becontinued until the motors are being operated 180 out-of-phase between90 percent and percent of their maximum speeds. When so operating in theranges over 50 percent of maximum speed, the resulting pile density willbe greater than that produced in the earlier described example whereineach motor varied between its minimum and maximum speeds in aout-of-phase relationship to produce a uniform pile density equal to themaximum output of one drafting section, e.g., 50 percent of total piledelivering capacity of the dual feed carding head.

Instead of being manually operated the aforementioned additional seriesrheostat may be controlled by a third stepping ratchet mechanismidentical to the previously described automatic control unit 162. Thisthird automatic control unit can be combined with the two manual units86 and 94 or with the two automatic units 162 and 164. If the thirdautomatic control is set to rotate between minimum and maximum settingsand then back again at a slower rate than the rotation of units 86 and94, the density of the blend will likewise alternate between maximum andminimum at a slower rate than the striping variation. By a suitableadjustment of the striping controls 86 and 94 relative to the densitycontrol, it is possible to produce several stripes of heavy density andthen several stripes of less density to thereby simulate the back andbelly portions, respectively, of a natural fur pelt.

It is also possible to produce a pelting action without a stripingeffect wherein the density of the pile is varied to simulate the thickfur on the back of a solid color animal and then the thinner fur on thebelly. To achieve this effect it is only necessary to operate the twocontrols 86 and 94 in unison between a minimum of say 30 percent of fullspeed on each control and a maximum of 70 percent of full speed on eachcontrol while the machine is knitting a portion of the sleevecorresponding to the center of the belly to the center of the back. Thencontrols 86 and 94 are rotated in unison from the aforesaid maximum backto the aforesaid minimum speed settings as the machine knits the portionof the fabric corresponding to the other half of the pelt. By somaintaining a constant feed ratio between two differently coloredrovings while varying their combined feed rate, a pelt of varyingdensity but of one blended color will be knit. Of course, two rovings ofthe same color may also be fed by the two drafting sections 72 and 74 inthe above manner when producing a solid color pelt, or only one draftingsection 72 need be used to feed one suitably colored roving. In thelatter case, the rate of feed of the sole roving is controlled by usingjust the one control 86 to vary the density of the pile fiber bundlesbeing knit into the fabric.

To produce a combined color striping and pelting action by manualcontrol, two differently colored rovings 76 13 and 78 are fed viadrafting sections 72 and 74, As an example, when the belly portion isbeing knit, control 86 is first increased from to 20 percent of fullspeed while control 94 is decreased from 20 to 10 percent of full speed,and vice versa, for a given period of time corre sponding to severalcourses of fabric. Then, in the next successive time periods, the rangesare gradually increased to between 11 to 22 percent, 12 to 24 percent,13 to 26 percent and so on, of full speed for each control while stillmaintaining the 180 out-of-phase manipulation. This produces a gradualincrease in density while maintaining the color pattern, e.g., stripewidth and color variation from stripe to stripe. When the back portionis reached the two controls will then, for example, be manipulatedbetween 50 to 100 percent of their respective full speeds, therebyproducing a density of pile in the fabric five times that knit at thestart of the belly portion. The sequence is then reversed until thebelly portion (the opposite coursewise edge of the finished fabric) isreached.

It is also possible to have one color or other characteristic of thefiber predominate over another color or characteristic throughout thefabric and still obtain the striped effect. For example, the gray fibersmay predominate throughout the fabric by controlling the rate of feed ofgray roving so that it ranges between predetermined limits, say from 70to 80 percent of the fiber content of the fabric, while the brown fibersare fed at a rate such that they range between 20 and 30 percent of thefiber content. When the relative amounts of these two colors vary in the180 out-of-phase sequence previously described, a stripe effect resultswith the gray hue predominating.

A third drafting section similar to and in addition to drafting sections72 and 74 may be used to feed a third roving made up of fiber guardhairs to the carding head at a rate correlated with the feed of rovings76 and 78. This will result in extra-long, heavier denier pile fibers255 (FIG. 4) being scattered throughout the fabric 250 in apredetermined arrangement to simulate the way in which such guard hairsoccur in the pelt of a fur-bearing animal. The third drafting sectionmay be omitted and the fiber guard hairs mixed into the rovings 76and/or 78 prior to feeding these rovings to their respective draftingsections 72 and 74.

It is also to be understood that various control systems other than themanual system shown in conjunction with FIG. 1 and theelectro-mechanical stepping rheostat type shown in conjunction withFIGS. 14-16 may be employed to control the machine of the invention inaccordance with the method of the invention. For example, the rheostatassociated with each motor of the respective drafting or drawing sectionmay be controlled by a control mechanism wherein a cam or cams controlthe operation of servo-motors which in turn control rotation of therheostat armatures. In this manner, a particular fabric designrepresenting the combination of one or more variables may be produced byproviding suitably designed cams to reproduce this fabric. By providinga stock of such cams, one for each different pattern, set-up time can beconsiderably reduced and uniformity of product consistently obtained.Such servo-motors are also readily adapted to computer control where thedesign information may be recorded on computer tapes for use in a highproduction, completely automated set-up.

The manner in which the needles 22 knit the pile bundles or elementsinto the base yarn as the base fabric is knit is well understood in theart. and set forth in more detail in the U8. Schmidt Patent No.2,630,619 and the US. Moore Patent No. 2,255,078.

What is claimed is:

1. In apparatus for feeding pile fibers to a pile fabric knittingmachine, said apparatus comprising carding means including dolfer meansfor presenting fibers carded by said carding means to the needles of theknitting machine for removal and incorporation into the base fabricmeans at a constant speed, the improvement which comprises a pluralityof roving feeding means for feeding a plurality of pile fiber rovingsindependently of one another into said carding means whereby saidrovings are carded in said carding means and variable speed electricdrive means drivingly connected to one of said feeding means for varyingthe rate of feed of the one of said rovings fed by said one feedingmeans into and relative to the speed of said carding means to therebyvary the quantity of fibers in said carding means derived from said oneroving.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including control meansoperably electrically connected to said variable speed electric drivemeans for varying the speed of said one feeding means and thereby therate of feed of said one roving fed thereby relative to the rate of feedof another of said rovings fed by another of said feeding means tothereby vary the relative proportions of fibers in said carding meansderived respectively from said one and other rovings.

3. In apparatus for feeding pile fibers to a pile fabric circular latchneedle knitting machine, said apparatus comprising a carding. unitincluding transfer roll means, means for operating said transfer rollmeans at a substantially constant speed, and first and second feedingmeans for respectively feeding first and second pile fiber rovings tosaid transfer roll means, the improvement wherein each said feedingmeans comprises counterrotating loosely inter-meshed toothed rollersadapted to pass the associated roving therebetween, variable speed drivemeans for driving said first and second feeding means independently ofone another, and control means operably connected to said driving meansoperable to vary the speed of said first feeding means relative to saidsecond feeding means.

4. In apparatus for feeding pile fibers to a circular latch needleknitting machine, said apparatus comprising a carding unit including acarding transfer roll and a dofier for receiving fibers from saidtransfer roll, and means for driving said carding transfer roll and saiddolfer at a substantially constant speed and at a constant speedratiorelative to one another, the improvement which comprises first andsecond drafting sections for respectively drafting and feeding first andsecond pile fiber rovings to said transfer roll, variable speed drivemeans operably connected to said first and second drafting sections fordriving said sections independently of one another and control meansoperably connected to said variable speed drive means to vary the speedof said first drafting section relative to the speed of said seconddrafting section.

5. In apparatus for feeding pile fibers to a pile fabric knittingmachine, said apparatus comprising a carding unit including transferroll means and means for operating said transfer roll means at asubstantially constant speed, the improvement which comprises first andsecond feeding means for respectively feeding first and second pilefiber rovings to said transfer roll means, variable speed drive meansfor driving said first and second feeding means independently of oneanother and control means operably connected to said drive meansoperably to vary the speed of said first feeding means relative to saidsecond feeding means.

6. In apparatus for feeding pile fibers to a circular latch needleknitting machine, said apparatus comprising a carding unit includingtransfer roll means, means for operating said transfer roll means totransfer pile fibers therefrom to the knitting machine, and first andsecond feeding means for respectively feeding first and second pilefiber rovings to said transfer roll means, the improvement whichcomprises means for driving said first and second feeding meansindependently of one another including a variable speed electric motoroperably connected to said first feeding means for varying the speedthereof and control means operably connected to said driving meansoperably to vary the speed of said electric motor to thereby vary thespeed of said first feeding means relative to said second feeding means.

7. Apparatus for feeding pile fibers to a pile fabric knitting machine,said apparatus comprising a carding unit, first and second feed rollermeans for respectively feeding first and second pile fiber rovingsindependently of one another and simultaneously into said carding unitwhereby said rovings are continuously intermixed and carded in saidcarding unit, first electric drive means drivingly connected to saidfirst feed roller means and being speed variable between predeterminedminimum and maximum speeds for varying the rate of feed of said firstroving to said carding unit, second electric drive means drivinglyconnected to said second feed roller means and being speed variablebetween predetermined minimum and maximum speeds for varying the rate offeed of said second roving to said carding unit and control meansconnected to said first and second drive means for varying the rate offeed of said first and second rovings relative to one another wherebythe quantity of fibers in said carding unit derived from said first andsecond rovings is proportional to the combined feed rates of saidrovings.

8. In apparatus for feeding pile fibers having a carding head includingfirst and second carding transfer rolls disposed for carding andtransferring fibers from said first transfer roll to said secondtransfer roll, the improvement which compises first and second draftingsections for respectively drafting and feeding first and second pilefiber rovings to said first transfer roll, each of said draftingsections comprising at least two pairs of counter-rotating looselyintermeshing toothed rollers, the rollers of each pair being adapted tofeed the roving therebetween and one of said pairs of rollers beingspaced from the other of said pairs of rollers in the direction ofroving feed, said one pair of said rollers being disposed adjacent saidfirst transfer roll, each of said drafting sections having a variablespeed electric motor mounted thereon and a gear train drivinglyconnecting said motor to at least one roller of each of said pairs ofrollers and providing a fixed speed ratio between said pairs of rollerswhereby said one pair of rollers is driven at a higher speed than saidother pair, and means for controlling the speed of said motorsthroughout a range between zero and maximum speed.

9. In apparatus for feeding pile fibers having a carding head includinga main cylinder having card clothing carried around the peripherythereof and a doffer disposed generally tangentially to said clothing ofsaid main cylinder, and means for rotating said main cylinder and dofierat a predetermined constant speed ratio relative to one another, theimprovement which comprises a first roving drafting section having anoutput end disposed for feeding a first roving onto the clothing of saidmain cylinder, speed regulatable drive means operably connected fordriving said first drafting section, means for controlling the speed ofsaid drive means to vary the rate at which roving is fed through saidfirst drafting section independently of the rotational speed of saidmain cylinder and doffer, a second roving drafting section having anoutput end disposed for feeding a second roving onto the clothing ofsaid main cylinder and spaced circumferentially thereof from said outputend of said first section, speed regulatable drive means operablyconnected for driving said second drafting section and means forcontrolling the speed of said second drive means to vary the rate atwhich roving is fed through said second drafting section independentlyof the rotational speed of said main cylinder and doffer andindependently of said first drafting section.

10. The apparatus as set forth in claim 9 wherein each of said draftingsections include means for guiding the associated roving into thedrafting section, said guide means of said first drafting section beingoffset parallel to the rotational axis of said main cylinder relative tosaid guide means of said second drafting section such that the fibersfrom the first and second rovings are fed onto the clothing of said maincylinder at least partially laterally offset relative to one another.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,710,525 6/1955 Brandt.

1,759,260 5/1930 Hoffmann 19-145.7

1,848,370 3/1932 Moore.

2,773,371 12/1956 Moore.

2,971,357 2/ 1961 Hill.

3,122,904 3/ 1964 Brandt.

3,188,834 6/1965 Radtke.

FOREIGN PATENTS 930,873 7/ 1963 Great Britain.

ROBERT R. MACKEY, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

